TBILISI: Corruption is a malignant tumor, removable only with pain. So widespread is it in my country that almost every state initiative seems tainted by corruption, with the result that the implementation of some governmental programs is now highly suspect in the minds of many ordinary people. Towering levels of corruption damage not only the authority of government at home, but the very standing of Georgia as an independent state abroad. To maintain that independence, to fulfill our domestic and foreign policy priorities, the suppression of corruption must be my country's most urgent priority.
For eight years I have governed, as president, an independent Georgia. Ending the civil war that erupted almost simultaneously with Georgian independence, and putting a stop to the bloody conflicts and attempts at secession that followed, required me, at times, to compromise on some issues in order to rescue even more important values – such as the very life of the country. The eight years of my presidency, indeed, have been devoted to transforming the sick Georgian state of its early years of independence into a healthy one. Hard choices were made concerning those problems to be solved first and those to be addressed later. Now, with domestic peace restored, I must declare that nothing is more important for Georgia than combating corruption.
This decision is made more necessary because Georgia's economy is, at last, growing again. In the first part of this year, GDP increased 5% and industrial output by 11%. Exports are rising as are after-tax incomes. With financial panic in retreat, unpaid salaries, pensions, and other basic state obligations are being met. But this success, and the stability it brings, will be temporary if corruption continues, like corrosive acid, to eat away at the economy and the state.
Up to now we have not been completely inactive in seeking to narrow the "corruption space" within our economy and politics. A proper, functioning elected legislature has been created, which is very important because democratic oversight is the most reliable anti-corruption watchdog. Criminal, civil and administrative codes that reflect Georgia's contemporary democratic and market-based reality have replaced the old Leninist norms that were an open invitation to corrupt practices. The common courts and Supreme Court now have their own independent institutional basis in law.
Many laws on licensing, monopolies, competition, and state purchasing that target the sources of (and opportunities for) corruption are now on the books. Public disclosure of the wealth of state officials will also help in curbing corruption's intrusions into state activity. The penal system has been re-organized under the Ministry of Justice. Indeed, two thousand people have been arrested over the last three years for such crimes as abuse of power and misappropriation of state property. Six hundred have been imprisoned.
Despite these laws and institutional reforms our anti-corruption drives have, up to now, produced none of the desired results. Discrete, limited programs failed to create properly functioning state mechanisms. So pervasive is corruption, indeed, that the fight against it seems impossible when undertaken in terms of separate laws and actions. Moreover, populist, demagogic campaigns against corruption may gain headlines but in the end they accomplish nothing. They may even entrench corruption by masking its true causes and culprits.
Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
I could, for example, have increased my popularity during my recent re-election campaign had I ordered the arrest of one or another of our domestic oligarchs. But such a contrived "show trials" would have delivered no lasting benefits for Georgia. To fight corruption on the scale that confronts Georgia, the attack must be coordinated and multi-faceted. My long experience at the wheel of my country convinces me that unprepared actions, uncoordinated campaigns, are superficial and yield only temporary results.
To coordinate this anti-corruption drive I recently signed a presidential decree authorizing a "National Anti-corruption Program" to be headed by Lado Chanturia, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Its uncompromising task is to make certain that no single agency avoids its responsibility in this fight. Armed with the power to demand from every state office the information it needs, the Commission will systematically root out corruption by reforming the state.
Key elements of the Commission's work include seeking ways to:
• curtail bureaucratic discretion so that opportunities for corruption begin to disappear;
• increase privatization because privatization strengthens constituencies that support legality;
• increase openness, for competition reduces corruption;
• limit regulation to what the administrative and judicial systems can handle, because simplicity, uniformity, and elimination of special exemptions are necessary if abuse of discretionary powers for corrupt purposes is to be eradicated;
• reform the civil service and introduce competitive pressures within government by creating overlapping jurisdictions and enforcement duties.
In this fight, Georgia's independent media must play its role. The media is Georgian democracy's most notable achievement up to now. Unfettered, it can assist in the fight against entrenched corruption.
Georgia's renewed independence was born almost a decade ago in a violence Georgians did not seek. Now that peace has returned and is accepted as a daily aspect of life, let no one doubt Georgia's will to establish the conditions and institutions of an enduring civility and prosperity.
To have unlimited access to our content including in-depth commentaries, book reviews, exclusive interviews, PS OnPoint and PS The Big Picture, please subscribe
When comparing Ukraine’s situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible. But it will require the West, and the US in particular, to put aside domestic political squabbles and muster the political will to provide Ukraine with consistent and robust military and financial assistance.
compare Russia's full-scale invasion to World War II and see reason to hope – as long as aid keeps flowing.
Current debates about Israeli policy are rife with double standards, leading to absurd decisions like Germany’s recent cancellation of a pro-Palestinian gathering. By quashing legitimate speech and assembly, an Israel-aligned establishment risks inciting precisely the kind of anti-Semitism that it wants to prevent.
worries that the double standards applied on Israel’s behalf will lead to an anti-Semitic backlash.
TBILISI: Corruption is a malignant tumor, removable only with pain. So widespread is it in my country that almost every state initiative seems tainted by corruption, with the result that the implementation of some governmental programs is now highly suspect in the minds of many ordinary people. Towering levels of corruption damage not only the authority of government at home, but the very standing of Georgia as an independent state abroad. To maintain that independence, to fulfill our domestic and foreign policy priorities, the suppression of corruption must be my country's most urgent priority.
For eight years I have governed, as president, an independent Georgia. Ending the civil war that erupted almost simultaneously with Georgian independence, and putting a stop to the bloody conflicts and attempts at secession that followed, required me, at times, to compromise on some issues in order to rescue even more important values – such as the very life of the country. The eight years of my presidency, indeed, have been devoted to transforming the sick Georgian state of its early years of independence into a healthy one. Hard choices were made concerning those problems to be solved first and those to be addressed later. Now, with domestic peace restored, I must declare that nothing is more important for Georgia than combating corruption.
This decision is made more necessary because Georgia's economy is, at last, growing again. In the first part of this year, GDP increased 5% and industrial output by 11%. Exports are rising as are after-tax incomes. With financial panic in retreat, unpaid salaries, pensions, and other basic state obligations are being met. But this success, and the stability it brings, will be temporary if corruption continues, like corrosive acid, to eat away at the economy and the state.
Up to now we have not been completely inactive in seeking to narrow the "corruption space" within our economy and politics. A proper, functioning elected legislature has been created, which is very important because democratic oversight is the most reliable anti-corruption watchdog. Criminal, civil and administrative codes that reflect Georgia's contemporary democratic and market-based reality have replaced the old Leninist norms that were an open invitation to corrupt practices. The common courts and Supreme Court now have their own independent institutional basis in law.
Many laws on licensing, monopolies, competition, and state purchasing that target the sources of (and opportunities for) corruption are now on the books. Public disclosure of the wealth of state officials will also help in curbing corruption's intrusions into state activity. The penal system has been re-organized under the Ministry of Justice. Indeed, two thousand people have been arrested over the last three years for such crimes as abuse of power and misappropriation of state property. Six hundred have been imprisoned.
Despite these laws and institutional reforms our anti-corruption drives have, up to now, produced none of the desired results. Discrete, limited programs failed to create properly functioning state mechanisms. So pervasive is corruption, indeed, that the fight against it seems impossible when undertaken in terms of separate laws and actions. Moreover, populist, demagogic campaigns against corruption may gain headlines but in the end they accomplish nothing. They may even entrench corruption by masking its true causes and culprits.
Subscribe to PS Digital
Access every new PS commentary, our entire On Point suite of subscriber-exclusive content – including Longer Reads, Insider Interviews, Big Picture/Big Question, and Say More – and the full PS archive.
Subscribe Now
I could, for example, have increased my popularity during my recent re-election campaign had I ordered the arrest of one or another of our domestic oligarchs. But such a contrived "show trials" would have delivered no lasting benefits for Georgia. To fight corruption on the scale that confronts Georgia, the attack must be coordinated and multi-faceted. My long experience at the wheel of my country convinces me that unprepared actions, uncoordinated campaigns, are superficial and yield only temporary results.
To coordinate this anti-corruption drive I recently signed a presidential decree authorizing a "National Anti-corruption Program" to be headed by Lado Chanturia, Chairman of the Supreme Court of Georgia. Its uncompromising task is to make certain that no single agency avoids its responsibility in this fight. Armed with the power to demand from every state office the information it needs, the Commission will systematically root out corruption by reforming the state.
Key elements of the Commission's work include seeking ways to:
• curtail bureaucratic discretion so that opportunities for corruption begin to disappear;
• increase privatization because privatization strengthens constituencies that support legality;
• increase openness, for competition reduces corruption;
• limit regulation to what the administrative and judicial systems can handle, because simplicity, uniformity, and elimination of special exemptions are necessary if abuse of discretionary powers for corrupt purposes is to be eradicated;
• reform the civil service and introduce competitive pressures within government by creating overlapping jurisdictions and enforcement duties.
In this fight, Georgia's independent media must play its role. The media is Georgian democracy's most notable achievement up to now. Unfettered, it can assist in the fight against entrenched corruption.
Georgia's renewed independence was born almost a decade ago in a violence Georgians did not seek. Now that peace has returned and is accepted as a daily aspect of life, let no one doubt Georgia's will to establish the conditions and institutions of an enduring civility and prosperity.